Wimbledon Betting / Sean Calvert / 19 June 2010 /

As the world's finest tennis players descend upon SW19, Sean Calvert looks at the men's first round matches which could provide some unlikely value.

Gael Monfils [1.4] v Leonardo Mayer [3.5]

Gael Monfils hasn't played at Wimbledon since 2007 and indeed has only won four matches on the lawns of SW19 in his career. The injury prone Frenchman's best Wimbledon win was his 2005 victory over 'The Dominator' - Dominik Hrbaty and his warm up for this has consisted of a first round defeat to Rainer Schuettler at Queen's.

His opponent, Leonardo Mayer, is a player on the upgrade and he has every chance of taking out Monfils, who will no doubt be slipping and sliding around all over the court like Bambi on ice as usual. Their only previous meeting ended in a retirement at one set all on clay and I can see this being close again, but I wouldn't want to be on Monfils at around [1.4].

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga [1.1] v Robert Kendrick [8.0]

If you fancy a long shot, then a lay of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga against Robert Kendrick might prove to be a good strategy. Tsonga has not played since retiring in the French Open due to a leg injury, so it's asking a lot of him to come straight to grass and beat a player who loves this surface.

Veteran American Kendrick is no world beater, but I was courtside last year when he gave Andy Murray one hell of a scare in the first round and he's a player who always gives 110 percent out there. After winning three qualifiers, Kendrick will be more match sharp on grass than Tsonga and I wouldn't put anything on Tsonga to win this at a miserly [1.1]

Novak Djokovic [1.17] v Olivier Rochus [7.0]

I also wouldn't be putting Novak Djokovic in any accumulators at a ghastly [1.17] against 'The Mighty Atom' Olivier Rochus. The diminutive Belgian has beaten Djokovic in three of their four career meetings and memorably took the Serb out in the Masters event in Miami a few months back.

Djokovic is playing horribly at the moment and lost to another Belgian, Xavier Malisse at Queen's in the second round, so he's not one to trust at that short a price. Rochus also has a winning career record on grass and has reached the last 16 at Wimbledon before, so he knows his way around this surface.

John Isner [1.67] v Nicolas Mahut [2.3]

Nicolas Mahut loves the grass court season and despite having a dodgy record at Wimbledon, he has the skills to take out John Isner at around [2.3]. The Frenchman beat Isner on the grass of Queen's in their only meeting to date a couple of years ago in straight sets and Mahut has played eight matches on grass so far in this mini-season, winning seven of them.

Isner on the other hand, has a career grass record of 1-5 , hasn't bothered to play a match on the surface since the French Open and has never won a match at Wimbledon, so I'm not too sure why he's favourite in this one.

Mikhail Youzhny [1.46] v Dudi Sela [3.0]

I'm not keen either on the prospects of Mikhail Youzhny beating Dudi Sela at around [1.46]. The Russian has played just the one match on grass this season and lost it to Nicolas Kiefer in Halle.

It was Kiefer's first match win since beating Seb Grosjean in Lyon at the end of 2009 and the German went on to lose to Andreas Beck in the next round, so the form lines aren't great. Youzhny also lost in the first round at Wimbledon in straights to JC Ferrero last year.

Sela on the other hand, despite being a bit on the unpredictable side, has played six matches on grass in this mini-season and won four of them, beating Andy Roddick in the process. The Israeli has also won the only encounter between the pair to date, which was in four sets in Davis Cup last year, so you would have to say that Sela is the value at around [3.0].

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